LibriVox recording of The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The play is set in Bath in the 18th century, a town legendary for conspicuous consumption and fashion at the time. Wealthy, fashionable people went there to "take the waters", which were believed to have healing properties. The plot centres on the two young lovers, Lydia and Jack. Lydia, who reads a lot of popular novels of the time, wants a purely romantic love affair. To court her, Jack pretends to be "Ensign Beverley", a poor officer. Lydia is enthralled with the idea of eloping with a poor soldier in spite of her guardian, Mrs. Malaprop, a moralistic widow. Mrs. Malaprop is the chief comic figure of the play, thanks to her continual misuse of words that sound like the words she intends but mean something completely different. (The term malapropism was coined in reference to the character.) Lydia has two other suitors: Bob Acres (a somewhat buffoonish country gentleman), and Sir Lucius O'Trigger, an impoverished and combative Irish gentleman. Sir Lucius pays Lucy to carry love notes between him and Lydia (who uses the name "Delia"), but Lucy is swindling him: "Delia" is actually Mrs. Malaprop. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Cast:
Fag: Algy Pug
Thomas/Servant: Brett W. Downey
Lucy: Linda Hogan
Lydia Languish: Elizabeth Klett
Julia Melville: Arielle Lipshaw
Mrs. Malaprop: Mil Nicholson
Sir Anthony Absolute: Andy Minter
Captain Jack Absolute: John Fricker
Faulkland: mb
Bob Acres: Peter Bishop
Boy/Maid: rashada
Sir Lucius O'Trigger: Lars Rolander
David: Matthew Reece
Narrator: Mary Ann
Audio edited by: Elizabeth Klett

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This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Date: 2011-03-25
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; audio; comedy; play; sheridan

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Reviewer: Zonda - - May 19, 2013
Subject: Brilliant :)
Downloaded over 3000 times and not one comment?! A brilliant reading by everyone involved - thank you, and great to know the history behind the word, thank you Elizabeth Klett for the background info :)